Changes to PSR General Directions 2, 3 and 4

Published 26 05 2016

Following consultation in April this year, we are changing the submission dates in our General Directions for operators to report on their compliance with their regulatory obligations concerning access and governance.

Previously, operators had to report by 31 July on the previous year’s progress in opening up direct access (under General Directions 2 and 3). Some operators also had to report by 31 October on how service-users representation are adequately being taken into account in their decision making processes (under General Direction 4).

In our consultation, we proposed to merge these two reports into a single compliance report, to be submitted annually by the operators affected by both (that is, the interbank operators and LINK) and proposed to make the annual deadline for this combined report 31 October.

All operators who responded to the consultation agreed with our proposal to move and combine the compliance dates for General Directions 2, 3 and 4.

Following consideration of the responses, the PSR has decided to adopt the proposed changes. We believe these will help us use our resources in the most efficient and economical way.

A single compliance report will also allow operators to better coordinate the work they undertake to comply with our directions, helping to ensure that burdens imposed on participants are proportionate. These changes will advance our statutory objectives and enhance the effectiveness of our directions, and are not expected to have any adverse effect. The new directions come into force on 31 May 2016.